Written Answers Thursday 26 June 2008

Scottish Executive

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current position is regarding the screening of the close family members of patients diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Executive published Health Department Letter (HDL) (2001) 24: Cancer Genetics Services in Scotland: Guidance to Support the Implementation of Genetic Services for Breast, Ovarian and Colorectal Cancer Predisposition to identify individuals with a high lifetime risk of inheriting cancer and arrange that they, and other family members where appropriate, are screened for risk of developing cancer. This guidance remains current.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place regarding the possibility of introducing a scheme to automatically offer screening tests to the immediate family of all patients diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Nicola Sturgeon: No discussions have taken place regarding the possibility of introducing a scheme to automatically offer screening tests to the immediate family of all patients diagnosed with bowel cancer. The answer to question S3W-14381 on 26 June 2008 outlines the current guidance for individuals with inherited bowel cancer in their family.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area died from bowel cancer in (a) 2002, (b) 2003, (c) 2004, (d) 2005, (e) 2006 and (f) 2007.

Nicola Sturgeon: Data on the number of deaths from bowel (colorectal) cancers are available by NHS board and year (1980-2006) on the Information Services Division website at:

  http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/cancer_colorectal_mort_m.xls. The latest year for which mortality data are available is 2006.

Central Heating

Mr Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in reviewing the central heating programme since May 2008.

Stewart Maxwell: In her statement of 22 May, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing set out the action that the Scottish Government would take to get back on track to meet the target to ensure that as far as is reasonably practicable people are not living in fuel poverty by 2016. A key part of this action was to re-establish the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum which had not met for some time under the previous administration. The new forum has met twice since May under its new independent chair and has agreed its remit, programme of work and the key issues it intends to explore. It will meet six times over the summer to consider the future direction of this important work and will present its recommendations to ministers in September.

Culture

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to encourage greater participation in the arts.

Linda Fabiani: The Scottish Government wants to see extended access to the arts and other cultural activities in Scotland, and is actively pursuing a number of initiatives which will help to encourage wider participation. The aim is to enhance opportunities for people to participate in and enjoy the wealth of cultural experience which Scotland has to offer. As an example, the government is supporting the Cultural Pathfinder programme, which is a great example of certain local authorities being assisted by Scottish Government to develop good practice for the delivery of cultural provision in their area, and to apply and share learning from this across the sector and, in particular, Community Planning Partnerships.

Culture

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what revenue was generated by Edinburgh’s 2007-08 Winter Festival.

Linda Fabiani: The question of what revenue was generated by Edinburgh’s Winter Festival is a matter for the City of Edinburgh Council, which is responsible for management and delivery of the events programme.

Electricity

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive why its inquiry reporter ruled inadmissible the evidence into the heath effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) at the public local inquiry into the expansion of the Wester Balblair substation and whether it will place a copy of that ruling in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Stewart Stevenson: In order to expedite very lengthy inquiry proceedings, the reporters ensured that repetitive evidence was not permitted. In particular, evidence given at the strategy session was not permitted to be brought forward again at the subsequent local sessions. In addition to this it had previously been indicated to parties that consideration of health matters would be in the context of government policy and advice. Circular 17-1998, Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992: Planning and Compulsory Purchase Order Inquiries and Hearings: Procedures and Good Practice, points out that reporters will make full use of their powers to refuse to permit the giving or production of any evidence which they consider to be irrelevant or repetitious or which is directed to the merits of government policy. In the opinion of the reporter, the content of Mr Coghill’s evidence, in effect, repeated the nature of the evidence which was the subject of thorough consideration during the course of the strategy session of the Beauly Denny inquiry. The reporter accepted that science is dynamic. Accordingly, it must be expected that during the course of an inquiry such as the Beauly Denny case, which from announcement to decision will extend over several years, there will be advances in many aspects of science and technology. However, there must be a closure to the gathering of evidence and he believed a suitable point in that respect was the ending of the Beauly Denny public inquiry sessions during December 2007. Clearly matters of exceptional significance which might subsequently arise cannot be ignored but he could see nothing in Mr Coghill’s evidence that would fall into such a category. Insofar as it is clear that, whilst the appeal inquiry and the Beauly Denny inquiry are subject to separate legislation, the overall position is to be considered jointly by the Scottish ministers. The reporter was therefore satisfied that any relevant evidence on health and EMFs arising from evidence given to the Beauly Denny inquiry could be properly applied to the substation proposal. With regard to Mr Coghill’s conclusions, the reporter noted that he recommended that the substation should be relocated to a more distant site and the entire line undergrounded. He also made reference, inter alia, to criminal and civil class actions. These matters are quite unrelated to the purpose of the appeal inquiry, the terms of which are clearly set out in the minute of appointment issued to the Reporter by the Scottish ministers. The reporter therefore accepted the submission by the appellant that the evidence was inherently irrelevant in the context of the planning appeal. In his questioning of the current guidelines, a point which Mr Coghill emphasised in his response to the appellant’s submissions, the reporter perceived evidence which was directed to the merits of government policy. Overall, the reporter concluded that Mr Coghill’s evidence was (a) repetitious, and did not add to the evidence presented to the Beauly Denny inquiry, b) irrelevant insofar as it dealt with matters unrelated to the particular subject matter of the inquiry, and (c) was directed to questioning government policy. A copy of the reporter’s ruling will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45922).

Gaelic

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of Gaelic Specific Grant was available to each local authority in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 and what level will be available in (c) 2008-09.

Linda Fabiani: During this period awards of specific grant for Gaelic education were made to the following local authorities and associated supporting initiatives:

  

 Local Authority
 2006-071
 2007-081
 2008-09


 Aberdeen City
£145,000
£130,000
£138,000


 Aberdeenshire
 -
 -
£25,000


 Angus
£52,000
£42,000
£45,000


 Argyll and Bute
£390,000
£345,000
£366,000


 City of Edinburgh
£210,000
£195,000
£191,000


 Clackmannanshire
£19,000
£14,000
£15,000


 East Ayrshire
£150,000
£135,000
£143,000


 East Dunbartonshire
£20,000
£60,000
£64,000


 East Renfrewshire
£52,000
£32,000
£34,000


 Eilean Siar
£965,000
£921,000
£976,000


 Falkirk
£9,000
£10,000
 -


 Glasgow City
£438,000
£460,000
£488,000


 Highland
£925,000
£880,000
£933,000


 Inverclyde
£113,000
£95,000
£101,000


 Moray
 -
 -
£10,000


 North Ayrshire
£95,000
£80,000
£85,000


 North Lanarkshire
£277,000
£247,000
£262,000


 Perth and Kinross
£80,000
£70,000
£74,000


 Renfrewshire
£38,000
£30,000
£32,000


 Scottish Borders
£9,500
£5,000
£3,200


 South Lanarkshire
£159,000
£144,000
£153,000


 Stirling
£155,000
£125,000
£133,000


 West Dunbartonshire
£27,500
£20,000
£21,000


 Stòrlann2 
 -
£441,000
£536,000


 Development Fund3 
 -
 -
£536,000


 Streap4 
 
£100,000
£100,000


 GLPS5 
£100,000
£100,000
£100,000


 Totals
£4.492 million
£4.681 million
£5.564 million



  Notes: 1. Includes additional awards of "end of year funding" from the scheme of specific grants for Gaelic education. 2. Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig - the National Gaelic Resource Centre. 3. Development fund - a new fund to support inter-authority and national Gaelic education activities. 4. Streap - conversion course for Gaelic-speaking teachers who wish to teach their subjects in Gaelic. 5. GLPS - Gaelic Language in the Primary School.

Gaelic

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any changes have taken place in the purpose of the Gaelic Specific Grant in 2008-09 as compared with previous years.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Gaelic Specific Grant is administered.

Linda Fabiani: No changes have taken place to the purpose of the scheme for specific grants for Gaelic education since its inception.

  In terms of processing grants, from 2008-09 we have introduced a number of changes to the way in which the scheme is administered as part of a process of continuous improvement. These include annual allocations of award, a three-year planning assumption, and the creation of a new development fund for supporting new initiatives of inter local authority and/or national importance.

Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005

Bashir Ahmad (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, when it expects more public authorities to be asked to produce Gaelic language plans.

Linda Fabiani: The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 gives Bòrd na Gàidhlig the power to require Scottish public authorities to prepare Gaelic language plans which will set out what they will do to support the use of Gaelic in delivering their core services. Bòrd na Gàidhlig has held discussions with a number of public authorities about preparing Gaelic language plans and the Bòrd today issued statutory notices to the following six public authorities, requiring them to prepare Gaelic language plans: City of Edinburgh Council Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education Learning and Teaching Scotland Scottish Funding Council Scottish Qualifications Authority UHI Millennium Institute. I am confident that these plans will contribute to raising the status of Gaelic and promoting its use throughout Scotland. In addition a number of other Scottish public authorities have also commenced the preparation of Gaelic language plans in advance of receiving a statutory notice from Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13919 by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008, how many staff were employed in (a) colleges and (b) universities in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2006-07, (iii) 2005-06 and (iv) 2004-05, broken down into academic and non-academic staff numbers.

Fiona Hyslop: Further to the answer to question S3W-13919 on 16 June 2008, the number of staff at Scottish higher education institutions and colleges during the past three academic years broken down by employment function is shown in the following table. Number of Staff at Scottish Institutions

  

 Academic Year
 HEIs
 Colleges


 Academic Staff
 Non-Academic Staff
 Teaching Staff
 Non-Teaching Staff


 2006-07
 16,360
 21,935
 12,695
 8,891


 2005-06
 16,020
 21,845
 12,781
 8,723


 2004-05
 15,310
 21,690
 13,170
 8,445



  Sources: HESA, excluding "atypical" staff; Scottish Funding Council. Data for 2007-08 will become available in January 2009.

Higher Education

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13919 by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008, when statistics on staff employed by colleges and universities will be available for 2007-08.

Fiona Hyslop: Staffing numbers for colleges and universities for the academic year 2007-08 will become available in January 2009.

Mental Health

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking in partnership with local authorities to address mental health problems.

Shona Robison: Our partnership approach to improving the mental health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland is focussed on health promotion, prevention, recovery and ensuring quality, integrated mental health services are available for all who need them. We are working with all partners to deliver that ambition. Progress will be achieved through delivery of the specific HEAT targets and other commitments for mental health. I also expect the mental health priority to be reflected in single outcome agreements. I expect these to be agreed with all 32 local authorities by the end of this month.

Mental Health

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to reform health visitor services in the greater Glasgow area.

Shona Robison: I am aware that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has recently conducted a review of health visiting services as part of a wider policy of integrating services for children and young people in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. It is a matter for the board to determine the way forward in the light of that review and to engage with all interested parties in its implementation.

Ministerial Meeting

Bob Doris (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last had discussions with Glasgow City Council.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government meets regularly with Glasgow City Council at ministerial and official level. The most recent ministerial meeting was held by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 18 June. I spoke with the Leader of Glasgow City Council on Thursday 19 June.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff will be lost in achieving efficiency savings in the NHS shared support services programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Nicola Sturgeon: The efficiency objectives that we have in Scotland are sustainable and will allow us to implement changes to government in Scotland without compulsory redundancies. It is important not to confuse staffing changes with job cuts. Staffing changes will be brought about though measures such as redeployment and the further training and development of existing staff. NHS boards are in the process of formulating plans on how the current phase of shared support services will impact on staff numbers and redeployment. These plans and any decisions on staffing changes are for individual NHS boards to take, in line with their local policies.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff will be made redundant as a result of achieving efficiency savings in the NHS shared support services programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Nicola Sturgeon: The efficiency objectives that we have in Scotland are sustainable and will allow us to implement changes to government in Scotland without compulsory redundancies. It is important not to confuse staffing changes with job cuts. Staffing changes will be brought about through measures such as redeployment and further training and development of existing staff. NHS boards are in the process of formulating plans on how the current phase of shared support services will impact on staff numbers and redeployment. These plans and any decisions on staffing changes are for individual NHS boards to take, in line with their local policies.

Oil Industry

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when its study into North Sea oil will report.

Jim Mather: The study commissioned by the First Minister to examine the setting up of an oil fund for Scotland will report in October 2008.

Roads

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making with regard to improving the Raith interchange.

Stewart Stevenson: The draft Compulsory Purchase Order for Raith Junction was published on 1 April 2008. We received one statutory objection which we are endeavouring to resolve without the need for a Public Local Inquiry.

Rural Development

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make applications for the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) Apple Mac-compatible and, if so, how much it estimates this would cost.

Richard Lochhead: With limited resources at its disposal, and conscious of the fact that it is spending taxpayers’ money, the Scottish Government decided to limit its initial development of its SRDP data capture suite of programs to meet the widest possible audience – which by a considerable margin uses Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. With the immediate objective now behind it, the Scottish Government is undertaking a study to determine whether and how it might be possible to support alternative browser software products. As well as determining the technical practicalities, the study will help to inform the decision on whether further investment in alternative browser support will achieve value for money for the Scottish taxpayer. It is too early to put a value on what the costs (and the potential value of the benefits) will be. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is actively providing alternative means for its customers who do not have access to Microsoft Internet Explorer to submit their applications.

Speech and Language Therapy

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for stroke patients between referral and first appointment with a language therapist.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not collected centrally.

St Andrew's Day

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what revenue was generated by the St Andrew’s Day programme in 2007.

Linda Fabiani: The aim of our St Andrew’s Day programme in 2007 was to raise the profile of our national day and increase participation in St Andrew’s Day events. Evaluation found that the advertising equivalent of £500,000 worth of coverage was achieved in local, national and UK media, from a marketing spend of £40,000. Information about revenue generated by St Andrew’s Day events around the country is not held centrally.